Freezing Hell Over
by lste
Summary: Johnny's known for never settling down. But what's the cause of this? When a past love enters his life all hell breaks loose at the Baxter Building. Everyone get's more than they came for. REVISED
1. Chapter 1

**Freezing Hell Over**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Fantastic Four. All I own is the plot and Cherry Love Crush.

**Authors Note:** I am revising the entire story and going to finish uploading the ending, which I failed to do as I was writing this story originally. I have finished reading through the story and I hope it will be better than when I originally posted it. Tell me what you think! I hope you enjoy the story.

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First kiss, the most analytical kiss anyone will have in their lifetime.

First time, impossible to forget.

First love, one of the only times any person will ever feel the truth of being _in love_.

Johnny had a _first_ everything. And his first everything's were the best anything's in the world.

Her name was Cherry Love Crush; she was as odd as the name given to her. Johnny love**d **her. He loved her before he cared about the tall slender women, the parties, the sex, the money, and the fame. Cherry was far from a model with her body; she was petite and she had an average frame; curvy, but not too thin. The way he like**d** it then.

Cherry gave him his first kiss and Johnny remembered the first time their lips collided. Her wavy coffee hair had been in a messy ponytail, the white blouse she wore was loose and yet it looked amazing on her tiny figure, and her small pink lips stood out as the sunlight shined against the clear gloss that covered them. All he could do was stare at those gorgeous lips. They had been conversing on the subject of Reed and Susan dating, Johnny had not taken it lightly at first. But at that instant he did not care if Susan was all over Reed because Johnny wanted to graze his mouth over hers. He had watched her lips move, but heard no sound, he thought Cherry had not noticed, but she was not dim-wilted. After awhile of him staring intently at her lips she had grown exasperated and brought his head down so that their lips met in the most breathtaking kiss.

Cherry was Johnny's _first time_ and he enjoyed it more than anyone who would give him any today. The two were going on their one-year; they celebrated by making out on top of Johnny's plaid covered bed sheets while watching the original Dracula film. Johnny was careful with Cherry; she meant **everything** to him. His pelvis rubbed against hers through the fabric of his jeans and he moaned against her lips. Cherry let her hands roam under his white t-shirt, sliding it off over his head cautiously. Johnny and her had not even realized they were naked until Johnny was slipping on the condom with Cherry locking the bedroom door -incase Susan decided to pop in. Johnny lay on top of her for a few seconds staring at her caramel eyes as they sparkled in anticipation. And then it happened, Johnny would never forget how amazing it was to be with her that way.

Cherry _was_ Johnny's first love. She had been his life, future, and only commitment. The two dated for four years, they were rounding on their second year of college. Johnny studied science and Cherry studied photography... It was a Sunday, Johnny was studying for a test; sitting behind a desk in their apartment. Cherry barged in with a grin explaining how she was accepted as a high paying photographer for the Chicago Tribune, which obviously resided in Chicago, Illinois. It was her dream and the end of Johnny's. They made arrangements to see each other even if she left, but they both knew _long distance relationships never work_. Not for them at least.

Johnny was upset when he received a phone call a few weeks after she departed. They discussed how Cherry was permanently going to live in Chicago; she had moved in with a few friends she made at work. One of them was the man she left him for. It ended slow and painfully. Johnny wasted years of his life spending his valuable time with a girl who blew him off for a shitty photography job down in Chicago.

This is why Johnny pursued every women he found intriguing. Even if it was over five years ago he feared love even in the slightest. The only people he allowed himself to get close to were Susan, Reed, Ben, and Alicia. They were the only people who cared if he was alive or dead. _Not Cherry Love Crush and her hubby._

Johnny did not really understand why memories of Cherry were revolving around his noggin. Thoughts of her were constantly in the back of his head, an example would be when he noticed a short curly haired brunette; he would secretly wish she would turn and be his past love. Although, he had not seen her since she left on a flight to Chicago at four in the afternoon years ago.

He sighed. Getting her out of his thoughts was like trying to freeze hell over. There was no possible way he could. Well, at least he would not let himself even if he really wanted to. Johnny held a constant grudge with her whether she was there or not to know it.

"Johnny-" The soft voice of his sister made his ears perk. She entered the living room, taking in the junk food layered table and the Motorcycle on the television blasting. "Can you please turn that down so I can speak?"

Lifting his hand lazily he pressed the mute button on the remote. His sister noted his sullen expression, but decided to carry out a small conversation before questioning it. If you asked Johnny up front if something was bothering him he would say nothing; you had to actually work hard for Johnny to admit he was slightly miserable.

"Reed wanted me to warn you there is a huge rain storm heading this way. So it would be best for you to stay in tonight," she smiled sympathetically as Johnny shrugged his shoulders. Reaching across the table he grasped a handful of salty popcorn and shoved it in his mouth. "Johnny... did you know that you eat your feelings away?"

"What?" he asked confused. That was one of the last things he figured Sue would say to him. Especially when he was in a state of denial of missing his ex-girlfriend who had ended their relationship five years prior to that moment. "I do not."

Sue just smirked, "Can I ask what is bothering you?"

"Nothing-"

The invisible woman held up her hand in protest, "Johnny do not tell me 'nothing' because it is bluntly obvious that something is wrong when you are sitting on the couch eating over a hundred pounds of food instead of out dancing or something," she pouted her plum lips slightly at her brother, "You can tell me what is wrong. I'm your sister, it is not like I'm going to go shout it to the world."

Johnny bit his lip. _Maybe I should tell her to get the damn thoughts out _he thought huskily as he pursed his thin lips, "Seriously Susan. I am completely fine."

"Then why are you inside acting akin to a bum?" Susan had a smug twinkle in her shinning sapphire eyes as she questioned Johnny. "You can be honest with me."

"Honestly," he sighed knowing he was probably going to hurt his sister's feelings. "I really don't want to talk about it. Stop pressing the subject, please."

The 'Human Torch' was not in the mood to battle with Susan about his emotions over his ex-girlfriend. A sigh escaped the woman's lips, she was clearly upset and Johnny felt terrible, but Sue had to back off. This was not a subject he was up to discussing with anyone –even if Sue was not just anyone. He did not want anybody to know about his only weakness and biggest mistake. However, Johnny was not sure if he could call her a mistake or a catastrophe. She really broke him.

Susan gave him a warm smile, "At least tell me if you are going to be okay or not? I can't live with out you."

"I am going to be a-okay."

Her eyes flickered across his, trying to reach deep inside his mind to understand why he was depressed at that second. She already knew that staring at him was not going to bring out a book of everything that Johnny felt so she backed off and exited the room. Johnny gazed at the television screen, which was still on mute; he was not really watching it.

All he could think about was Cherry's smile and how she was the only girl that could make him feel the way he did. _Johnny missed that_.

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Trip over love, you can get up. Fall in love and you fall forever. - Unknown Author


	2. Chapter 2

**Freezing Hell Over**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Fantastic Four. All I own is the plot and Cherry Love Crush.

**Authors Note:** I put a picture of Cherry on my profile.

**Travelchica:** Thank you for your review! Ah! I'm not the only one that still reads Fantastic Four fanfiction! :-D Yeah, Johnny has a heart. It's just burried deep under.

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Johnny Storm was never particularly great with rules, specifically when Reed gave them and Susan informed him of them. After two hours of moping around the house thinking about Cherry a commercial caught his attention; it was promoting a hot new club called SENSATION. Meaning a place where Johnny could score and have fun, which also meant his mind would be off of **her**. At least he thought it was going to be that easy.

He ran to his room and changed into his very expensive Dolce clothes and grabbed the keys to his black sports car – he really missed the one Ben destroyed so he bought the same one, but in black. Not bothering to say goodbye to Susan, Reed, Ben, or Alicia he took the elevator to the ground floor and went around the back to the parking lot to get into his shiny car.

It took a few short minutes to locate the club, he had drove past it when it was in the process of being built a few weeks ago. Lights of all sorts of colors flashed inside and out, the music blasted loud enough that it could be heard a few blocks away. The theme for tonight must have been The Jungle for there was many girls dressed as lions and bears outside. The line to get inside a block long and cars were stalled in traffic trying to get by. Johnny parked his car across the street and stepped out immediately hearing a few people scream his name as they spotted him. He waved to a few women that were dressed in fairly revealing clothes as they jumped as he walked past them. With a click of a button he locked his car and entered the club, not needing to wait in line.

Instantly girls swarmed and cooed into Johnny's ear as he entered the club. A few of them danced around his arms and swung their hips hard against him. They bought Johnny drinks, which he became slightly intoxicated within the past hour.

He had taken a liking to a tall brunette with a pointed nose and bright ruby red lips and spent most of the night with her. He would have asked her home or even if he could go back to her place, but it was only so long before Sue called her brother and 'spoiled' his fun by demanding his return to the Baxter Building. And she clearly stated that no females were allowed. Johnny sought to tell Susan to mind her own business, but even in his unstable state of being he understood that he was the only family she had left and when Sue worried, she worried hard; so he left without a quarrel.

"Damn it…" he muttered with a slur as he stepped outside the club and saw the rain pouring down from the black sky. One, he couldn't drive because he was drunk and two, he couldn't fly because of the rain. "It's like a five bajillion hour walk dude…" Johnny said to himself as he drunkenly staggered down the street in the direction of the Baxter Building.

As he drew closer to his home he noticed a few containers for newspapers sitting on the corner of a street. Johnny decided he would drop by and pick up the newspaper for Reed; he enjoyed reading the news constantly. Plus, Johnny was a bit drunk and when Johnny got drunk he got happy and when he got happy he did nice things; like picking up the news for Reed. He had a bit of a dilemma getting the quarter into the little hole to pay for the paper –since it was actually a dime and not a quarter-, so he burned the handle off in his drunken state. He grabbed one and wobbly continued on his way home.

"Reed!" called Johnny as he sloppily entered the scientific 'home'. The doctor walked into the lobby dressed in his pajamas with a sleepy raised eyebrow -he could tell just by looking at Johnny's disheveled hair and bloodshot eyes that he was drunk-; with a flick of the flamer's wrist he tossed the paper at his partners head and started out of the lobby towards his bedroom. "It's a present. Have fun."

"Thanks Johnny," Reed folded the paper in his hands and bit his lip as he watched Johnny grab hold of the walls to steady his tripping. Susan was not going to be happy with a wasted Johnny. An intoxicated Johnny destined an upset sister. And an upset sister meant an upset wife for Reed. Even if Johnny went out partying at clubs all the time he was smart enough not to drink incase a disaster happened, but when he drank at clubs it usually clued-up everyone that Johnny was upset.

With a shake of his head in disappointment Mr. Fantastic made his way back into his room, muttering inaudibly, "Johnny, you are a mess."

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"With great power, comes great responsibility."


	3. Chapter 3

**Freezing Hell Over**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Fantastic Four. All I own is the plot and Cherry Love Crush.

**Authors Note:** I put a picture of Cherry on my profile.

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Hangovers were the worst possible way to wake up in the morning; Johnny had officially decided as he was hurling in the toilet. The clear color vomit exploded from his mouth as his knees were on the floor and he quivered in disdain. Susan heard the gurgling noise from across the hall and was immediately outside the door, knocking softly.

"Johnny are you okay?" She questioned worriedly. All Johnny could get out of his mouth was the vomit. "Johnny are you throwing up?" He could hear her press her body against the door, Sue's porcelain senses heightening as her brother gagged stridently on a fresh new wave of vomit.

After a moment of heavy breathing Johnny found his voice, "I'm fine Sue… I'll be down for breakfast in a minute."

He could feel his sister's annoyance as she shifted behind the doorway. That stated she was not going to leave her ground. Weakly Johnny rose to his shaken feet; he slipped over to the sink and washed the taste out of his mouth with the mint toothpaste. A groan escaped his lips as he opened the bathroom door to reveal Susan with her arms crossed. He thought he was the only one that created fire out of 'the Fantastic Four', but Sue's eyes begged to differ.

"I knew I should have suspected something when you didn't bother to come tell me you were home," she shook her head very displeased. "When I walked in your room to make sure you were alive I was shocked when I saw you asleep. I knew there was something wrong…"

"Sue," Johnny said her name slowly as to make her focus on him. "I got a little drunk last night and woke up with an upset stomach. That's all. It happens."

"I know you only drink when something's bothering you Johnny!"

Johnny stopped himself from grabbing his sister's shoulders and shaking her silly, "Sue don't start this now. We can talk about it later."

"Promise me that we will talk about it," Susan pleaded as she stared into her brother's fiery eyes. He had no choice, so he nodded his head, which made Sue smile. She always became happy when she was able to break past his shield; it was probably thicker than the one's she created. "Then let us go eat."

The two made their way into the kitchen and were welcomed by Reed's abnormal singing as he was cooking… Johnny furrowed his eyebrows; it was a disturbing sound, like scraping ice. He shook his head at his brother-in-law and his eyes found themselves on Alicia and Ben who were laughing obnoxiously as they read the morning paper, they were chuckling about something in the funnies. Johnny was about to pass them over but his blue eyes trapped on the headline image. Frozen in a state of shock he barley heard Susan snapping her manicured fingers in front of his face attempting to gain his attention.

"Johnny!" She shouted in growing tired of snapping her fingers. With a shake of his head he did not perceive they were all staring in his direction. He raced over to the giant boulder and grasped the paper out of his hands almost ripping it in the process.

"Hey-" Johnny ignored Ben's protests and analyzed the front page in complete awe. There she was as beautiful as ever, Cherry Love Crush. She looked different. Her hair was longer, wavier, and she had given herself straight bangs. He remembered when they were younger the longest her hair had been was to her shoulders, the way it looked in the picture it must have been to the middle of her back. As her picture had hypnotized him his eyes would not contract downwards to read the article; all he could do was stare at her ginger eyes. He nearly fainted at the sight of her, and it was just a picture.

Susan and Reed shared an estranged eye glance and Ben scoffed in disapproval at Johnny, who was still staring dumbfounded at the paper. The golden blonde strode over to her brother and gazed over his shoulder and she too suppressed a gasp.

"Oh my," she muttered whilst bringing a hand to her mouth. Unlike Johnny, she was able to move her eyes across the words and take them in. Susan pushed her brothers shoulder slightly, "Are you alright?"

Johnny dropped the paper into Susan's hands and stared down at the palm of hands in contemplation, "I thought I would never see her face again."

"Did you even read what it said?" The distress in Susan's words awoken Johnny's attention and he took back the paper with a flick of his wrist. Now he comprehended why his worried sister asked if he was okay.

Violet Lightening Strikes Young Photographer

By: Wetly Ridden

Published: February 20, 2008

AN UNUSUAL lightening storm appeared in New York at 11:25 P.M. Thursday February 20th. A young striving photographer named Cherry Love Crush, who had just been transferred from Chicago Tribune, was working on her first assignment for New York Times. She was atop Bloomberg Tower trying to get a photo of the mysterious violet colored lightening -that has been occurring frequently over the past few days around New York cities innermost downtown areas -when a bolt crashed down upon her before anyone could blink. Shockingly she survived the shock and was rushed to a hospital in central Manhattan. She is stabilized but could possibly be in a coma. Our prayers are with Cherry in her time of need.

"This is great…"

Susan sneered at her brother, "What?"

"What I meant was this is a great way for her to appear once again," he shrugged his shoulders a bit distraught. "It has been about five years."

In a haze Johnny handed Ben the paper and he scanned the article quickly curious about Johnny's ruckus. Alicia's hand tightened around her boyfriend's rock form in hopes of getting the update of what was happening. Ben placed the paper down, "Who is she?"

"That-" the ex-lover's voice held vain. "- is the biggest mistake of my entire life."

"I'm going to go down to the hospital and see her."

The over dramatic Johnny threw his hands in the air in amazement at his sisters declaration, "What?"

Wetting her lips she stared into his brother's eyes, they were hurt. Not from her but from Cherry Love Crush, the only girl he ever let himself love. Yes Cherry and him had his downfalls; nevertheless Cherry had been a major part of Susan's life also. They might not have been the best of friends and she did break her brothers heart, but Susan was a forgiving person. It wasn't her relationship that had gone downhill anyways, it was Johnny's.

"I know you guys had your problems," Johnny glared deeply at Sue's statement as he thought _Problem's, more like world events_ as he remembered the countless times Cherry and him had fought and how their relationship ended. "That was five years ago. Don't you think it is a little long to still be holding a grudge?"

"No."

Ben, Reed, and Alicia listened to the quarrelling brother and sister. Johnny looked ready to physically combust and Susan had the appearance of a torn heart. She loved her brother, but Cherry could possibly be dieing at that moment and she was not going to let Johnny stand in the way of seeing her past friend once more.

"She left you because she wanted to complete her dreams Johnny. I know it hurt but she was happy. Isn't that enough?"

Johnny pounded his fists, which had become flames, on the wooden table making everyone in the room jump at his never before seen anger, "She was my dream. My life! She didn't even ask me to come with her!"

"It's been five years, and whether you approve of me going or not I am going to visit her," Sue rotated on her heel to leave the kitchen, but faced Johnny one last time. "And I think you should visit her too."

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"Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true."

- Leon J. Suenes


	4. Chapter 4

**Freezing Hell Over**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Fantastic Four. All I own is the plot and Cherry Love Crush.

**Authors Note:** I put a picture of Cherry on my profile.

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The machines beeped accordingly in an awkward pattern. It indicated that the woman was alive and breathing, however it did not signify she was going to wake up and that was what worried the doctors. This was a different scenario, even for them; never had any doctor experienced a patient like her. Cherry's body temperature was below negative zero degrees, which indicated she should be dead. Conversely her heart was still beating in her chest steadily as well as her brain waves were going haywire informing them of her having night terrors.

Susan Storm Richards hurriedly rushed down the crowded hallway of sick people in the direction of the main desk for the emergency room. A young plump woman was sitting behind the counter talking informatively on the phone with what Sue presumed to be a patient. Sue leaned against the marble table and smiled at the black haired beauty on the phone, who gasped at the fact 'The Invisible Woman' was standing in front of her. Her voice whispered quickly onto the other line and she hung up the phone a moment later.

"Hello Mrs. Richards. How may I help you?" The woman's voice was silky and Susan could not help become fairly more comfortable in the bright white room. Susan prayed this woman was a big enough fan to let her see Cherry without being related.

"I'm here to visit a Cherry Love Crush."

The woman blinked somewhat confused; "I was informed to call Mr. Richards not too long ago to ask him to come down to see Ms. Crush actually. So I'm assuming you can go in. Room 104, second floor. It's the intensive care unit."

"Really?" Susan backed away from the desk with a very bewildered expression. _Why would they call Reed down to see Cherry? _Her questions would soon be answered as she felt a hand crawl up her back. She wiped around puzzled to come across a serious Reed Richards. "Reed, what's going on?"

Reed gave a small nod to the woman behind the desk and pushed Susan into an empty hallway. He bent his head down so that he was whispering in her ear so not disturb any patients, "The lightening that hit the girl had some sort of affect on her. They couldn't explain it. The asked me to come down and check it out."

Both became engrossed in silence as they half walked half ran down the busy corridors. As they reached room 104 Reed held out his hand to stop Sue, motioning with his finger to be silent he opened the door and they entered the room in quiet. Since this was not the ordinary section of the hospital –being the intensive care unit- Susan and Reed were forced to watch the girl behind a large glass wall that separated from them being in her white walled room. Although the dead toned girl that was lying in the bed was accompanied by a man adorned in a complete green hospital suit (mouth mask, slippers, elastic gloves, hat that covered his graying hair) was checking off little boxes and making notes on a clipboard.

"Dr. Cavy?" Reed questioned uncertainly and the doctor snapped his gray head in the direction of the elastic man. The lead fantastic took note of the man's nametag, which indeed read Dr. Cavy, confirming his suspicions.

Dr. Cavy opened the door located next to the glass window and walked into the small room Sue and Reed were waiting in. He held his hand out for Reed to shake, "Mr. Richards-" he shook Reed's hand and then motioned towards Susan's arm with his own, "Mrs. Richards."

Susan's eyes scanned across the glass to gaze at her brother's ex-girlfriend. She looked nothing resembling the girl in the picture that was in the newspaper or even the girl she once knew. In the article her skin tone had been vibrant and ivory, her eyes were a bright brown, and her smile was lively. Now she reminded Susan of a dead body. Cherry's skin was pale, almost white, and she had a no expression for the fact she was still unconscious.

"Why are we here Dr. Cavy?" Susan's voice carried out in pain as she watched the girl with worried eyes. The doctor's footsteps followed up to the glass and he bit his lip as he too looked at the girl.

"We don't understand anything. All of her readings are wrong… her temperature is ten below zero and her heart is still racing as if everything is fine," Dr. Cavy took a short breath, giving Reed and her a discomfited stare. "And she froze one of our surgeons hands. It turned to pure ice with a single touch."

"How?" Reed questioned quizzically as he stared at the graying doctor.

"She was having spasms in her sleep. One of our surgeons touched her hand since in most cases people in a coma can still hear you; he wanted to calm her down. Stop the nightmares. And just as he touched her his hand became instantly frozen. We were able to defrost it, but there was major nerve damage," the doctor explained.

The girl consumed Reed and Susan both; they were describing her in a way that was similar to them, but that was near impossible. Unless she had mysteriously traveled up in space and was hit by a radioactive wave that could only occur once every hundred thousand years.

Dr. Cavy's next question caught them off guard, "We were wondering if you could take her back to the Baxter Building? We don't know what she is capable of doing and the hospital doesn't want any innocent people getting hurt by this. We can't release her until we know she'll be somewhere medically safe. "

"Yes," Sue said on intuition. Johnny did not cross Susan's mind until the deed was done… and even so, she would not have changed her decision.

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**Ben Grimm**[Sitting on the Brooklyn Bridge] Oh yeah Ben, few days in space, it'll be great, what's the worst that could happen?  
Fantastic Four


	5. Chapter 5

AN: It's been FOREVER since I've updated. I had this document saved on my old computer and I came home and finally was able to find it. I promise I'll have this story uploaded completely in the next week or two.

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Cherry tried to open her eyes, tried to open her mouth, tried to speak, tried to move her fingers, tried to smile. Tried to get her body to do some kind of movement to indicate she was alive. She was in a secret state of panic, she wanted to cry and scream. Let someone know she was in pain. Energy boiled up inside the crater of her stomach and she could feel the room get colder.

The phone vibrated in Johnny's pocket, he stared at the number as it flashed. S.U.S.A.N. He was not going to answer. Johnny waited until the flashing stopped then flipped it open and turned the phone off. He needed to blow off steam the only way he knew how. Which was by scoring girls.

Reed's eyes bulged out of his head as he observed the blue flames surrounding the petite woman's body. It mesmerized him how this girl was possessing the same powers as Johnny, except blue. She screamed in agony, Susan wanted to help but there was nothing she could do. The flames glowed a vibrant aquatic color… and with a burst of light it was clear what power this girl possessed. Ice.

What once had been a white heated room was frozen over in a coat of ice. Susan ran for the door to the room and tried to open it but it was frozen shut. Mr. Cavy blinked petrified at the scene that lay before him.

"Help me!" Reed and Susan both flexed as they heard the desperate crying voice from behind the iced wall. "Help, please!"

"What do we do?" The woman's eyes were hectic, frenzied as they danced around in dread. How could they break through ice without Johnny? Of all the people… Sue picked up her phone and attempted to call her unreliable brother another time. She knew he turned his phone off when it went straight to the voice mail. "Damn it Johnny."

"Dr. Cavy, does this building have a blow torch by any chance?" inquired Reed in thought. Dr. Cavy nodded his head and Reed ushered him out quickly, "We need it. Fast."

The doctor ran out of the room as hasty as he could. Reed met eyes with his wife, who was pressing her hand alongside the glass. A pounding came against it and the two both jumped back in shock.

"Help! I'm stuck!" Cherry belted, her tiny fists slamming against the ice wall in panic. "Where the hell am I? What the fuck is going on?" Tears streamed down her face and she held back a sob as she spun around trying to figure out where she was.

"Cherry everything is going to be alright," soothed Susan, she placed her hand against the ice. It was hard to see through the mess Cherry created, everything was a blur from that room to the next. "Take a deep breath! We are going to get you out."

The petite girl put her hand over where Susan's was laid as she could see the shadow, "I recognize your voice!"

"I'm Susan, you probably don't remember me," she bit her lip. She at least prayed the girl would not remember her; maybe she was able to get over Johnny unlike vice versa. Cherry became quiet, of course she knew who Susan was. The memories of Johnny came to her. "Cherry, do you know what happened?"

Cherry did not answer, instead she leaned her forehead beside the ice. It felt comforting even if she wanted it to be gone. Tears sprung in the creases and she balled her small hands into tight fists of fury. With one pound of her fist along the ice covered walls it was gone a flash. She shrieked in fright. Did I image all that?

A rattle of the doorknob triggered her fear. Susan Richard's bullion hair was instantly remembered by Cherry. The reminiscence shook her insides and she quickly forgot about her current ice problem with the look on Susan's rich face. They stared at each other, almost lost, when Susan shockingly glided over to the short wavy haired woman and enveloped her tightly.

"I read what happened in the newspaper and I was so scared I had to come see you."

Susan patted the back of Cherry's locks, who decided to start crying harder once more. The brunette could not really grasp why the tears were falling from her eyes, maybe it was because she missed seeing her friends face. Cherry considered Susan had hated her for what she did to Johnny.

Johnny flashed in her mind and he suddenly became the most important aspect, "He's not here right?"

"No," Sue backed away and gave Cherry a concerned once over. It scared her how fast the woman could change moods; first she was scared, then angry, then sad, and now panicked over Johnny. She forgot how deranged Cherry could be. "Are you okay?"

Cherry stared down at herself observing for the first time she was nude. Glancing over at the bed she realized her clothes were shattered into tiny fragments of ice. A shocked expression crossed her features and Sue caught on as she took off her brown leather jacket and wrapped it around Cherry's shoulders cover the exposed her private areas.

"What the hell happened to me Sue?" her voice crooked out in perplexity. At that moment Reed entered the room followed by Dr. Cavy, who was holding a blowtorch. "What happened?"  
Sue grabbed Cherry's shoulders and attempted a valiant smile, "Everything is going to be fine now. Cherry… we want you to come back to our house so we can figure out what happened to you. We don't understand what or why these things are coming from you."

By the look on Sue's face Cherry knew she was facing a huge problem. Nevertheless it wasn't like she could say no to that… after whatever the hell happened to her, "Yeah Sue. I'll go."  
Stumbling into the Baxter Building it was hard to see with all the lights turned off. Johnny held onto 'Sophia,' his latest squeeze. She was giggling; the smell of vodka reeking off her like a garbage bag. Mr. Storm was 'smart' enough to fall over as he was attempting to find the light switch.

"Johnny are you drunk again?"

Alarm fuzzed his vision at the sound of Sue's voice. He tried to pull himself together in the pitch black, but alas Sue was faster than him. She flicked on the lights to see Johnny scrambling on the floor and Sophia fixing her bra strap oblivious to the situation. The blonde's eyes squinted dangerously at her brother. At least he was sober, she could tell by his anxious demeanor. Susan Richards was beastly when angered.

"Get her out now," Sue demanded slowly with an edge in her attitude as she pointed towards the elevator. The last time his sister had spoken to him like that was when he was fired from NASA, she sent him to his room as a 'punishment'. Sadly, the twenty-one year old him had listened. And the twenty-six year old him was going to as well. "I'll call her a cab."

The male gulped in fresh air as Susan stormed out of the room in a rage. Out of all the things for her to get mad about, she was angry for him getting lucky. Johnny could not believe her, but Sue seemed exceptionally angered at the moment. Little did he know he was going to be the furious one after Sophia was gone.

Johnny kissed Sophia goodbye shortly, he could hear Susan talking on the phone with the cab driver –they had their own personal cab for emergencies and he would take Sophia home for free. As the elevator doors shut, blocking the view of Sophia's form, Johnny entered the kitchen at a snail's pace. Susan was sitting on the counter holding the white telephone in her hand. She was staring down at it scarcely.

"Johnny we need to talk," she bit the inside of her lip. "And you are not going to like it."

"Yeah. I didn't like the fact you kicked my girlfriend out but-"

Susan glowered at her brother, "That slut is not your girlfriend. You could get someone else another night so stop bitching."

His eyes bugged out of his skull. Johnny's sister was a very proper well-mannered woman, and for her to say bitching and slut in one sentence intended business; whether he liked the commerce or not.

"Look. I'm sorry. I wouldn't be so frustrated if you wouldn't have turned off your cell phone. There was an emergency-" Susan raised her eyebrows to make it clear that she was not kidding with him. "- and we needed your help today. Thank God everything worked out fine without you."

Johnny scratched his head disappointed at himself for being careless, "What happened?"

"Well… this is the part you are not going to enjoy…" Susan dragged every syllable out gradually. Johnny's eyes followed her as she hoped off the counter and pulled out a chair. "I think you should sit down."

"Come on Sue I think I can handle whatever it is-"

"Cherry is going to be living with us for awhile."

Johnny blinked. That's all he could manage to do. It was a dream; it had to be a dream and if it wasn't Johnny was about to throw a tantrum, "What the fuck Sue?"

"Maybe if you hadn't turned off your phone we could have talked about this," she shouted back at her brother, pointing an accusing finger at him. "I tried to call you and see if it was alright, but you had to throw a bitch fit and turn it off!"

"Why the hell would you invite her here? Couldn't you have given her some directions to a hotel, money, something anything but this?" He ran a nervous hand through his hair. This had to be the worst time of his life since Cherry had broken up with him. It's so funny how she could give him the worst feelings in the world yet he still cared about her so much after five years.  
"There was an accident…" Susan started. Johnny was about to interrupt but she held up a stubborn finger. "You need to hear this part before you yell at me anymore. Johnny, she has powers like us."

"What?" he asked in puzzlement completely forgetting his argument. "That's not possible. Stop joking Sue."

"Johnny it was amazing what she did," Sue stated in awe from her vivid remembrance of the incident. "She turned into a blue fire. How you do with 'flame on'. She turned the entire room into pure ice Johnny."

"Okay slow down and repeat," muttered Johnny with a raised eyebrow. "How did she get the powers Sue?"

"Reed thinks it's the lightening that hit her. He was running some tests over the day that the storm happened and there was some form of radioactive energy in the sky…" Sue shrugged her shoulders. "Johnny, I wouldn't have agreed to this if that didn't happen. But you know we have to do this. We have to find out if it can happen again and she's the only piece of evidence we have."

Johnny rubbed his clammy hand over his face in distress, "How do you except me to wake up with her here and pretend everything is okay?"

Susan stood stunned in her place at her brother's question. She knew he still held a grudge against Cherry, he always would, but she never assumed he still had feelings for her. The thought of him still in love with his ex-girlfriend that left him fiver years ago was depressing.

"Let us see how this goes. Just give everything a chance," she pursed her large ruby lips. "If it doesn't work out we can think of how to take it from there. But right now Johnny we need to think of others…"

Tiny footsteps were heeded in the quietness of the rest of the house. They echoed against the wall as they peacefully were approaching the kitchen. Johnny's hair stood on end as Goosebumps trickled over his entire body.

"I thought I heard your voice…"

And that's all it took for him to finally combust. He came ablaze and flew out of the room before the two women could say another word. Cherry stayed still, shocked that her ex-boyfriend had turned into an inferno. Susan coughed softly as she examined the younger woman. The prospect that had Susan most befuddled was that Cherry's face held devotion at the site of Johnny. Susan reflected in recollection She left him, if I recall correctly.

"Can I ask you a question?" Susan posed; she motioned for Cherry to sit in the seat across from her. The girl cautiously swayed, not entirely used to walking after being electrocuted by a violent bolt of lightening over twenty-four hours prior to that second. Susan knew the question was personal, but she always wondered. "Why did you leave my brother?"

Cherry sighed; she knew this was coming even if she did not want it to. The least she could do was be honest with Susan given that she was letting her stay at the Baxter Building for free... not that Johnny wasn't going to be hell for her. "When I went to Chicago I already knew Johnny and me, we weren't going to make it.

We were having a few problems before and our relationship felt like we were both already married. We were too used to each other already and the sudden change was like a light to the dynamite with a super short cord."

"In Chicago there was my dream, not that I didn't want Johnny to be apart of it. Believe me if I could go back and do one thing it would be to stay with Johnny. But well, I knew Johnny was going to be something and I didn't want to drag him down with me because I found happiness in a low paying photography job…"

Cherry shrugged her shoulders ineffectually; "I told him it was I told him I left him for another man… I wanted him to be angry with me so he wouldn't come back if I broke it off. You know Johnny, if I would have told the truth he would have flew down to Chicago and swept me off my feet."

"I guess your right on that part," uttered Susan with a frail grin remembering how much he cared for Cherry. "But your wrong about one thing. Johnny would have been the happiest man alive if he dropped everything to be your husband while you worked at a shitty ass magazine company taking photos."

"Some things aren't meant to be."

Susan didn't believe Cherry's words. Johnny and her were meant to be. How more convenient was fire and ice? It's like they were drawn together when they weren't even looking for one another.

"Some things are."


	6. Chapter 6

Never in his entire life had Johnny dreaded waking up in the morning to eat Susan's homemade breakfast. He had listened to her wake up and scramble into the kitchen. Last night he didn't sleep, he had waited for her to crawl into his room she he could burn her to death, but she never came into his room. He abominated her because he loved her more than anyone and she hurt him. The last thing he wanted was Cherry around him so he could smell her, see her, feel her, and maybe even love her again.

Urgently Johnny's stomach growled. If only life was easy…

Ben evaluated the young brunette that was sitting next to him at the table. After Susan and Johnny both departed Reed was able to brief Alicia and Ben on the past of Storush –Reed had dubbed that their Hollywood couple name- and Ben was confused at how Johnny was in love with her. Not that Cherry was not beautiful, but that was the thing; she wasn't hot or sexy she was beautiful. Johnny did not date beautiful girls.

"Hey honey, do you mind passing the butter," grumbled Ben to Cherry, who grinned up at the rock man. She had taken a liking to him; he was nice and always gave her cute pet names. Cherry grasped the 'Can you believe it's not butter?' jar and handed it to Ben. "Thanks." She assumed Ben liked her also; he had informed her that she was the first person that gave him a hug and smiled the first time meeting him.

"Did you find anything yet Reed?" Cherry casually asked as the flexible man sat down across from her next to Susan. Reed's eyes met hers and she already knew the answer, but all she wanted to do was let Johnny live her life and with her there that was not happening. It's sad that after about five years Cherry still craved to make Johnny Storm happy. "I just want to get out of your heir as soon as possible. I hate being a burden."

"Your not a trouble here Cherry," informed Reed; a few nods followed his proclamation.

Cherry laughed, "Not to you."

"Ignore Johnny. He's just being a hot head," Susan rolled her eyes. She could understand Johnny and her were over but it was five years ago and he needed to stop being immature about the situation.

"Whose a hot head?" Cherry's ears perked up at the sound of his luring voice. God she missed that. She felt him stroll past her towards the food. "If you're talking about me, which I'm sure you are, I know. I know I have a pretty hot head Sue, but I'm sorry to inform you I'm not into incest."

Susan sneered in disgust at her brother's comment, "Ewe Johnny that's repulsive."

"That's not what Sophia was saying last night before you kicked her out of the house."

"Maybe you should stop bringing your whores to the house and going to theirs instead," she barked in irritation. Three R words that described Johnny Storm: rude, repulsive, and ridiculous. "I'm sick of waking up to them walking around half naked in the morning Johnny. Especially that Cindy girl."

Cherry's heart silently felt tight with a gauche nausea. The last thing she expected Johnny to be was a player, he had been far from that when the two were together. At least she hoped he had been true...

The 'hot head' scanned the table to see an empty chair between Reed and Alicia, which he was thankful for. Taking his breakfast plate he sat beside the two, with a grim grumble in his stomach. He could feel Cherry's eyes silently gazing at him with curiosity. Yesterday she was the one who tried to strike a conversation and he rejected her; she would only speak to him if he made conversation. A nagging need to hear her speak to him was overtaking his brain.

"Ugh…" he stared down at his plate, all eyes were on him. "Hello Ch- everyone."

Out of all the battles he boasted about in the past this was far the most difficult to beat. Overcoming your own personal demons were always harder to accomplish then kicking some guys ass, stopping children from burning in open flames, and the occasional saving a few dozen people from a burning building.

"Hi John," Cherry radiated, her eyes having a newfound glow. The last time she experienced happiness at the sound of a man's voice was when Johnny called her name, and here he was making her feel those tingles again. "How have you been?"

Johnny grimaced inside; it was rigid to converse with her without yelling, "Good… I… Ur. Um. Ugh, well, how about yourself?"

"Horrible," she shrugged her shoulders and darted her eyes off into another direction immediately causing tension. Johnny did not try and comment on her sudden need to avoid eye contact because he was doing the same exact craze. They were both hushed during the entire meal, eating their food cautiously. Susan could feel the edginess the two had radiating off of their body languages.

Conversations came in and out between Reed, Susan, Alicia, and Ben. They discussed issues involving the government; a military general had asked Reed to create a scanner for his teammates. Ben was far from interested in the government business, but he some how found his way onto mentioning Frankie (Johnny's ex-girlfriend). Formerly, if Frankie had been socked by lightening and initiated on living with the Fantastic Four instead of Cherry, Johnny would be delighted.

"Cherry," Johnny shuddered faintly at the hum of her name coming from Reed's exceedingly talkative mouth. "Susan and I want to know if you think you can generate that ice again today?"

Setting down her fork on top of her plate she wordlessly debated in her brain if she could do it another time. She did not even recognize it was her that created that energy until Reed had enlightened the lot onto her.

"Maybe if I try hard," she passed it over with a flick of her hand. Secretly Cherry was still in denial about it all, she wanted them to disprove the theory so she could leave the Baxter

Building as soon as possible. Seeing Johnny brought a lost pain to her and she did not enjoy it. "I heard your flames are similar to mine."  
Johnny's head perked, "Oh yeah… I wouldn't know."

"You'll have to show me sometime," she suggested with a grin, but it faltered at Johnny's expressionless face. "I mean, if you'd like to. Cause you don't have to."

"I guess I could," he shrugged his shoulders not really sure what kind of reaction to give off. He was going through so many emotions he wasn't sure if crying, yelling, or running was best suited. Shakily as Johnny finished his meal he placed the empty glass silverware in the sink and sulkily exited the kitchen.

Johnny isolated himself in the room for the rest of the day. He had not adapted well to Cherry being in the house, every time he was around he mentally, physically, and emotionally combusted. The way she smelled was intoxicating; similar to sugar covered strawberries. She smiled like an angel. Pursuing his thoughts further on Cherry Love Crush, Johnny suddenly had a rush of pain jab at his heart. He did not want to feel this way yet he could not stop himself from thinking about her in a quixotic affair.

Cherry was feeling similar emotions to Johnny as her stomach cringed as Susan gnarred his name, "Usually Johnny's a real raillery, but when he doesn't get his way he becomes a huge nuisance."

"I know," muttered Cherry with a sliding grin as she called their apartment. "The two of us used to fight all the time about really stupid stuff because I wouldn't do what he felt like doing."

"Ignorance," Susan hooted with a roll of her eyes, she fixed the microphone that was hooked around her earlobe. With a flick of her golden hair Sue faced her husband who was hunched over a computer screen. They had Cherry in a large silver box like the one Johnny had been in when he transformed into an inferno, almost reaching supernova. Reed Richards was currently trying to calculate how freezing Cherry could get.

To illustrate Cherry's power's they had placed her in the box so she could expand uncontrollably without hurting them or anyone else in the Baxter Building. Anxiously Reed proceeded to compute and work with the computers to get them to their proper digits, incase anything went wrong…

"Do you remember what made you generate that energy last time Cherry?" quizzed Sue with a sullen expression. The curly brunette mentally tried to figure out what she had done. What was she thinking of anyways?

"I was paralyzed Sue…" Cherry stated with a dumb smirk. "All I remember thinking was that I wanted to scream; move. I wanted to get out of there."

Reed spoke up between the two conversing women, "If you can control your emotions you can do it again."

"Be fierce Cherry!" The blonde cheered with a chuckle. "You can do it."

A sudden reelection of a homeless man in an Adam's Sandler movie crossed Cherry's mind and she laughed immensely, causing the couple to chuckle in confusion, "Concentrate Cherry."  
Offsetting her mind to a tranquil condition, Cherry was determined to create the icing flame once more. She hadn't witnessed the true abilities she did have because she was submitted unconscious, thus the reason she had not seen anything. Cherry set her thoughts entirely on possessing the power, she tried to recall the emotions of fear, pain, and dread as she felt them whilst she was in the hospital bed.

"Look at your hands!" Called Susan with a spark in her voice. Doing as told Cherry noted the icy azure colored energy that was oozing around her hands. "Try and do something with it."

She pictured snow. With a swish of her fingers little bops of snow particles drifted out of her palms. Rendering the frost in a bend with a motion of her hands she truly was at a loss for words. A lubricious substance trickled down her spine and up her arms and she realized that she empowered the ability to turn into an entire blue flame. A screech erupted deep in her throat at the excitement and confusion she felt all in one moment. It was exhilarating.

Cherry breathed out deeply trying to calm her beating heart, "This is spectacular."

"That is so cool!"

The voice transported a tremor up and down her spine. Cherry was friable at the jingle in his words as they were aimed at her. Within a flash all she could see was light, a scream spun in her stomach. It lasted only a second.

"Oh my- that is so fucking cool!" Exclaimed Johnny in enthusiasm as he stared at the girl who was surrounded in a swirl of blue blaze. The combustion was comparable to his own, excluding the color. "I thought you were all lying!"

"How do I put it out?" Cherry whined in anxiety. She sought to renegotiate the favor of letting Reed run tests on her aflame figure. All she desired was to cuddle up against her pillow and sleep… or maybe Johnny…


	7. Chapter 7

**Freezing Hell Over**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Fantastic Four. All I own is the plot and Cherry Love Crush.

* * *

Even if Johnny held a pretentious abomination for Cherry he smiled at her endearing squeal. For an instant he was lost in the past, wanting to hold her in his arms. Maybe it wasn't too bad having Cherry back in his life…

Cautiously Johnny Storm caught himself before he became too fascinated by his thoughts. He was not amative towards Cherry presently. His brain was loaded with images of Cherry from the past and present… secretly the future too. Prior to the incident in the laboratory with seeing Cherry's 'icing flame' powers The Human Torch was sidetracked with the suggestion that she could possibly be staying with the Fantastic Four for an extremely long time. The idea made him vaguely confused and terrorized. What if he fell in love again?

"I laugh at the face of love," Johnny barked to himself in the confinements of his neat bedroom as thoughts of Cherry crossed his mind as always. "Ah ha, ha, ha, ha!"

"Love laughs at your face too."

Johnny jumped in fright, spinning on his heel to perceive a smirking Ben Grimm. The rock shook his head chuckling at the sight of Johnny's lopsided grin, which informed the world of his embarrassment. Ben entered the room casually; his loud feet pounding against the floorboards as he walked.

"What are you up to Pebbles?" The Torch questioned with a small leer not particularly liking the fact that Ben invaded his space; Ben rolled his beady eyes. "And why are you in my room?"

"Actually, I wanted to ask you about something…" Ben responded with an air of possibilities. Raising a brow Johnny offhandedly crossed the room leisurely to stop a few short feet in front of the russet boulder. "You know what you said about feeling alone awhile back?"

Laughing, Johnny poked fun; patting Ben in mock soothing, "I know I'm single Ben, but you have Alicia. It's immoral for you and I to be together… plus, you're a rock, big guy!"

"That wasn't what I was talking about Tinkerbell," Once more Ben rolled his eyes at Johnny's humor. _Insensitive twerp. _"Back when the surfer was here you told me you were lonely."

"Woo. That was a long time ago," using his hand he put emphasis on 'long'. "The world was about to end. I said it to say it."

Ben nodded his head, not really believing the younger male, "Just wanted to remind you that your chance is up. Be careful or it might slip by." The rock-man took off out of the flamer's room and Johnny's glared where he once was. Johnny chose to ignore Ben's comment; he always had been the matchmaker.

Not even a second after Ben left did Susan wait to storm into her brother's bedroom, an odd expression on her face. She stared at Johnny, who returned the awkward facial feature back at her, "Are you going out tonight?"

"I didn't have anything planned…"

Susan beamed, "Good! Do you mind staying home and looking over the building tonight?"

Since the Silver Surfer had left earth there had been a disturbance with people trying to break into the Baxter Building. Fortunately one of the members was home at all times so they were able to catch the perpetrators. They had decided that if there was not an emergency at least one person had to stay and watch over the building, which usually wasn't a problem. That is until Susan, Reed, Alicia, and Ben wanted to go out.

"Sure… am I going to be alone?" Susan could pin point the secret meaning to the question. He was really asking 'is Cherry going to be home with me tonight?' And the answer was no.

"Reed and I have to take Cherry to a government meeting. They want to see if she is a 'threat to America' or if they can presume her safe," the blonde answered with a tone of annoyance in her voice. But who really likes when the government tries to mess with your personal life? "Ben and Alicia are having some alone time."

With a noiseless nod from Johnny Susan decided it was time to exit his dormitories. The question Johnny proposed baffled her indistinctly, "Has she said anything about me?"

Examining her brother sympathetically, she could tell his atmosphere towards Cherry instantly by his stance. His blue eyes were off distracted in another direction, wondering. It intrigued her that Johnny could love her after all the girls he'd been through in a year.

"She's said a lot," Susan said passively. "About you."

Lying stretched out along the cream colored sofa, Johnny indolently dozed off whilst watching the television. Lately he was worn-out from all this 'Cherry' drama with her powers. It had become such a nuisance he had avoided the paparazzi purposely for the first time in his entire life. All they craved to talk about was Cherry this, Cherry that, Cherry and him. He was sick of it… he had enough problems trying to keep his heart from pounding every time she entered the room let alone speak to him.

On the other hand, Susan and Reed had taken her to a 'government' meeting while Ben and Alicia were out on a date, which destined Johnny to be unaccompanied for the afternoon. For the first time since he achieved his powers he experienced being normal and having average dramatization.

With a groan he shifted uncomfortably, causing him to sink deeper into the cushions. Abnormally he experienced a relaxed bearing in the movement. Similar to warm arms wrapping around him, it was a genuine affection.

Johnny Storm had fallen into a deep slumber when Cherry returned home, without Reed and Sue; Johnny would be systematically confused. The wavy haired brunette opened the front door after evacuating the elevator. She was careful in being quiet; her perspective of how Johnny would react to seeing her lonesome was indecisive. Susan had informed her of his avoiding ways.

Following the sound of the television it was obvious NASCAR was on with the rumbling of the cars. Cherry caught sight of Johnny's sleeping form and she paused, watching him adoringly. A loud crash broke out and she glared in the direction of the television, mutely she walked over and switched off the racket.

Pepping open one eye Johnny noticed the short women bending over near the television. With a racing mind he stared speechless, where was Reed and Sue? Were the two of them alone together? And why was her behind absolutely perfect?

"Where is everyone?" asked Johnny sleepily. Heavily sighing Cherry thought in disdain _what an immature twat. The two of us can't be alone together for two seconds before he starts crying like a baby._

"They are out on a date. The meeting ended earlier than planned and they wanted to go out to eat, but I am really tired so I offered to go home," she informed with an air of unease. Facing him she took in his sleepy appearance; his blue eyes were half open and there was a sour twinkle to them. She recalled the times when she lived with Johnny and he had fallen asleep on the couch watching NASCAR and football, back then she would take a blanket and cover him up or maybe even join him. Gathering up all the courage she could muster she questioned the Torch vigilantly, almost afraid he would burn her, "Can you and me talk?"

Johnny positioned himself so he was sitting upward loosely, "About what?"

"You and me…"

"There is no 'you and me' Cherry," he forcefully stated, his eyes quickly gaped at her with a tiny glare. _Does she not understand that I hate her?_ Were his only thoughts on her suggestion. "There hasn't been for a really long time."

"That's not what I meant!" Holding up her hand she waved it around to make herself clear. Johnny and her were over five years ago and she comprehended that.

"What do you mean?"

"Can't you and me try and get along… I want to be able to talk to you again," Cherry urged with a silent desire to hold him in her arms. "You and me go way back Johnny… I'd hate to loose you over something that happened five years ago."

"You lost me five years ago when you left me for another guy," Johnny sneered in frustration. At that second he realized it was his only chance to express his hatred towards her, even if it hurt her and him in the process. "I hate you Cherry and ever since you've been pushed back into my life I've been miserable. I wish you would just leave. Why don't you just pack your bags and go back to Chi-town!"

Wincing at the words she struggled to make a coherent sentence, "I- ugh. Johnny…"

"That's right! You have nothing to say because you fucked everything up," he stood up from the couch grasping the idea he was about to 'Flame on' without trying –Sue would not be happy if he ruined her crème velvet couches. Steam progressively heated off his shoulders as his words became harsher. "I wish you would have died when the lightening struck you."

_Maybe that was a little too harsh_… His mind debated instantly as Cherry opened and closed her mouth to find words in her state of shock. As an alternative of speaking to the man she once loved, Cherry aggressively rotated on her heel and headed for the hallway. Coming to the conclusion he had went over the top Johnny followed her, grasping her arm to stop her from going any farther. Spinning to face Johnny, his heart nearly stopped as her eyes treacherously frowned at him.

Butterflies, he could not believe after all she had put him through he still felt passion when he stared into her auburn eyes. The heaviness of his heart reminded him of a fly stuck in a spider's web. As she stood in font of him a dangerous gleam flickered across her features, Johnny backed up immediately.

"Why are you chasing me John?" Snapped Cherry, a purple hue covered her lips as her anger grew and her powers started to take over. "You made it clear that you want nothing to do with me."

"Maybe what I said was a little too harsh…"

"A little?" Her facial expression made it clear she was pissed by the comment.

"Look, just because I don't want you in my life doesn't mean I don't need you," grumbled Johnny in confusion at his hypocritical sentence, he had taken to staring at his socks. The way her eyes glossed over with a thin layer of ice secretly eked him.

Cherry shifted her small feet, "Look if you don't want me you don't need me. You can have any girl you want, go find one of them to fuck with."

"You left me, if I recall correctly. For another guy."

A swift wave of uneasiness quieted the room instantly. Regret passed through Johnny's emotions with the strange drifting calmness. Cherry placed a cold hand against her forehead in anxiety at the moment; she wasn't looking forward to talking about this. Especially since he did not know the truth.

"You don't understand," she urged impatiently, Cherry could see the physical aggravation she caused Johnny by her statement.

"How could I not comprehend that you left me for some guy in Chicago?"

"You don't even know the half of it Johnny!" She barked, a small ice flare shot from her hand towards the floor causing it to ice over. Squeaking in fright, she backed away from the spot.

Heat radiated from Johnny's body in his anger, "Then explain it to me Cherry. Help me understand why you left me for someone else?"

"Why?" she threw her dead toned hands in the air. The Torch could see icy flames fusing in her palms unstably waiting to release. "Why does it matter?"

Johnny shrugged, "Maybe I'll understand. If I don't know the truth then how am I supposed to know how I'm supposed to feel?"

"It's a long story-" she began, but Johnny cut her off shortly.

"Does it look like I have any place to go Cherry?" The way he said her name made her come to realize that she only had this one chance to make him comprehend why she did what she did. "I just want to know why."

Cherry sighed in exasperation knowing there was no other way out of this predicament, "I lied to you John. Everything I told you was a lie. There was no other man, I told you there was so that it would be easier for us to break off if you thought I was a bitch… but I see it made things worse…"

"I lied because I wanted you to have a future and I liked Chicago, I didn't want to come back. That doesn't mean I _**don't**_ love you either… I wanted you to be there with me, but I wanted you to fulfill your own dreams not mine."

"You lied to me?" Johnny took in the new information with frustration. "Are you stupid? You made me hate you for years because you wanted me to have my own life? Couldn't you have told me the truth? We could have still been together."

"If you would have known the truth," she paused to brush a stranded russet wave that fell into her face, "You would have come back for me."

Groaning, Johnny glared deeply at the shorter woman, "What if I wanted to be with you?"

Softly, she smiled, "Look at what you've become Johnny. With me you would have had some shitty job that gave you low pay and we'd be raising kids and you'd be miserable. In New York you've become this icon, you were in NASA, you save the world daily, Johnny you've done amazing things."

"I could have done amazing things with you too," he whispered sadly. The two gazed at each other; a sort of easing to their previous fight.

A crackling ding vibrated throughout the room causing both heads to snap in the direction of the elevator. The doors opened to reveal an annoyed Susan and a sorry Reed; the two were bickering about scientific projects. As the two quarreled Cherry departed into her bedroom before they could see her distressed face leaving Johnny standing in mystification by himself.

Susan finally detected her odd brother when she nearly ran into him in her angered state at Reed. When she saw his distress she immediately went into worried-older-sister mode, "Johnny are you alright?"

"Yeah," his head shot up and he gave his sister a thoughtful look. "Just a little confused."

Reed squeezed Susan's shoulders and sighed. Walking over to the fireball he patted his back and advocated him to continue on with Reed into his lab room. The Invisible Women rolled her eyes, men; she would never figure them out.

Using his powers, Reed stretched his arm out and pulled up two spiny seats, he swayed a black-leathered chair in Johnny's direction. Both seated themselves next to one another and Reed shook his head as he started his speech, "Can I tell you a story?" Proposed Reed, with a glimmering smile. "It'll be relevant… I think."

Stretching his arms behind his back the Torch grinned, "If you promise to tuck me in at night you can read me whatever you want Reed."

Reed ignored Johnny's lame pun and continued on, "When Sue and me broke up a few years ago I was angry for awhile because I didn't know why she broke up with me. I really loved her… but when I saw her with Viktor I overlooked everything thinking she was happy. And I was okay if she was," Reed educated whilst ignoring Johnny's mocking facial expressions and gasps. "When she came back into my life, after we gained these extraordinary abilities, I was a bit confused myself. After all she did leave me."

"That's because you revolve your life around your work," Johnny smartly stated with a smirk as he raised his hands to show off Reed's humungous lab. "You should really learn to control your obsessions."

"I could say the same for you," Reed recalled Johnny's countless rendezvous.

Johnny scratched his head apprehensively; Reed knew him long enough to strike him where it hurt, "Look Johnny I know this is hard to grasp, but maybe letting Cherry be a piece of your life again wont be as bad as you think it will."

"Reed… she lied to me. How could I be with someone who lied to me?" Fumed Johnny, he crossed his arms indulgently at the reminder of Cherry's words. "She told me she left me for another man, but there was no one else! She came up with this stupid lie to-"

"Wait. She didn't leave you for someone else?" Mr. Fantastic chuckled in amusement at Johnny's puzzled facial features. "Shouldn't that make you happy?"

Pausing, he took in the information with a pliable smile, "Yeah… it should."

Racing to zip up the Fantastic Four suite was harder than predicted. On any other occasion pulling up the zipper would have been a very easy task, but alas Johnny Storm was in a rush. The alarm was ragging loudly throughout his eardrums and he couldn't get on his damn ensemble! Loudly he groaned, finally giving up.

"Need some help?" The voice caught him off-guard. Vigilantly Cherry glided over to Johnny and grabbed the medal handle of the zipper; pulling it up with ease. "That hard huh."

Chuckling at her sarcasm, Johnny moved away fast at the closeness between them, "Yeah…"

"I want to go with you guys. Maybe I can help?" Cherry requested with an innocent smile. The tight blue suited man smirked down at her a bit. "What?"

"I think this is a mans job."

"Excuse me," she held her arms outstretched in infuriation. "What does Susan look like?"

"Ugh…" Sue's brother stood dumbfounded at his own words. It's not as if he really believed what he said anyways, he secretly liked to see Cherry angry; she always looked cute when she scrunched her nose in frustration and she stuck out her chest as she rested her hands on her hips ready to fight. "Go ask Sue or Reed. I really don't care if you come or not."

"They left already," Johnny had been consumed by trying to fix his suit they had gone without him. Giving Cherry a side-glance he remembered something.

"I'm going to fly…"

Cherry grabbed Johnny's forearm, the electricity that ran up and down his spine scared him, "I'll go with you!"

"I'll be too hot," laughed Johnny at the suggestion of Cherry holding onto him when he flew. She would burn up instantly, or at least that is what he believed. The small women shook her head at Johnny. "What?"

"I'm an icicle, remember?" It clicked in Johnny's cranium. Maybe it would work, but if not one of them was bound to get hurt and that wasn't good. "We can always try it. See what happens."

Johnny, giving in because of Cherry's innocent smile, held out his arms and Cherry carefully wrapped her thin arms around his waste, clandestinely Johnny was enjoying the feeling of her against him. The coldness he felt when they touched was intense as he was hot as the sun and she was cold as the atmosphere in space.

Whispering into Cherry's ear, Johnny could feel the shivers that were cooing all over her pale skin, "When I count to three we both have to flame up. Do you think you can handle it?"

Nodding, Cherry's grip tightened around Johnny's muscular waist in fear. This was it. Booming with force Johnny counted one and then two, and with a deep breathe at three; "Flame on!" Instantly the two flamed up causing circles of red and blue flames to circle them. A fog trailed after the two, but the duo could see each other completely. The Torch was entirely covered in a red fire as Cherry was doused in a blue inferno.

"You always told me you dreamed of flying," muttered Johnny as he posed himself for take off. Energy soured throughout the mans body; Cherry and him were lifted from the ground, Johnny hoisted Cherry up higher in his arms and dove out the Baxter Building's window with ease. A squeak erupted deep in the women's throat as she watched the earth wiz past her at a forceful speed. People pointed and cheered as the two flew through the air, Cherry laughed; this was not what she was expecting.

Johnny's smiled warmly at the sound of her voice, "Having fun?"

"More now that I am in your arms," she winced as the words slipped off her tongue. She hated word vomit. She was glad that he could not see his face he probably was infuriated. "I mean… what I meant to say is I'm having fun… with you…"

Both settled on silence the rest of the trip towards the tragedy they were supposed to be saving. The Torch's head swarmed with thoughts consisting of Cherry; after all this time he did have feelings for her that was most evident. If he was not going to take her into consideration then he should have abandoned everything about her five years ago, but for some reason he kept Cherry in his thoughts and he was starting to realize why. He still wanted to be with her.

Approaching the scene Johnny wished he had zipped that damn zipper sooner for a huge fire was ablaze a large four-story building. He prayed Sue, Reed, and Ben had gotten to the accident much quicker. Or else a lot of lives would be at stake.

_Hopefully they didn't have any zipper problems, _Johnny thought with a grim nausea in his stomach as he felt the heat of the building radiate against his already hot skin.

"This is worse than I thought it was going to be," he commented to Cherry, who was taking in the scene as he had. "I'm going to go ahead and drop us both inside, I'm going to check if anyone is stuck and you try and put out the flames with your icing… thing… Agreed?"

Before Cherry could respond Johnny had busted open a window and they both landed on the floor with a thud, Johnny atop Cherry. If Johnny hadn't noticed the fire trickling around the walls he would have been eager to kiss his ex-girlfriend in their compromising position. Jumping off her he took out of the room before she could blink, shouting random sentences to see if anyone was alive.

"Is anyone in here?" Cherry called to make sure the room was empty, with no sound she extended her hands and rushed the energy from her palms. Ice covered the vacant area instantly; running into the hall she froze random areas where she knew no one was located. She didn't want to freeze anyone to death Ben crossed her path once; he used his rock talent to lift a heavy piece of wood that had fallen on a mans crushed legs, he had to carry him out of the building since his legs were broken in various areas.

The building was four stories, which was a minor emergency for the Fantastic Four compared to all their other life threatening, world ending, evil villain wanting to take over the world run-ins. It was a matter of minutes before the apartment complex was empty from any life and iced over.

An ash covered Susan entered an icy room doing a last minute sweep, she shivered at the cold that took over the once cooking house. Susan noted that Cherry stood in the center of the room with arms crossed. The women could not see the sapphire inferno's annoyed facial expression, "Cherry why are you still on, um, fire?"

"I'll be naked if I turn this stupid combustion off."

Susan, once again, was lucky enough to have a coffee colored trench coat on her. Taking it off Susan turned around and let Cherry kill the flames; the brunette grasped the jacket and stuck her arms in the sleeves swiftly. Tying the ribbon around her waste to make sure it wouldn't loosen on her and expose everything; Reed Richards was in the nick of time as he entered the room just missing the strip show.

Pursing his lips Reed sympathetically stated, "They have you on tape Cherry."

"I can handle it Mr. Fantastic," Cherry sighed in exasperation. "What I can't handle is freezing my clothes off."

The Invisible Woman draped her arm over the other girl's shoulders and gave her an encouraging smile. Grabbing Reed's hand, Susan led them out of the building where Johnny and Ben were helping out the police and fire department. Reporters swarmed the streets, microphones in hand screaming obscenities at the Fantastic's. Ignoring the invigorating questions, Cherry ran up to a little boy who had ash-covering parts of his face he was alone and crying with all his might.

"Mom!" He sobbed harder, Mom! Mommy! Mom!" He wiped his sea blue eyes, trying to make his vision clear from the tears. Bending down to eye level with him Cherry grabbed his hand carefully. "I want my mommy!"

"What does your mom look like kiddo?" She soothingly questioned with a honey warm voice. The toddler pointed to a woman who was being pushed into an ambulance atop a gurney. Cherry bent down and held up the boy, racing over to the meds that were treating the woman. Tapping one of the men's shoulders she balanced the boy on her hip with much difficulty. "This is her son."

The medical examiner gracefully picked up the boy with effortlessness and placed him in a seat on the ambulance. A smile grew across the ice woman's lips as she watched him grow with excitement at the sight of his mother, _hopefully she would be okay_.

"There you are," Johnny exclaimed as he jogged over to Cherry who was watching the ambulance pull away. The man gave her a once over; for Cherry's body was almost completely exposing her birthday suit in Susan's semi-long trench coat. And even though she did not have the body of a model Johnny could not think of anyone more beautiful that the woman standing in front of him. "Reed and Sue wanted- hey, did you know that your lips are really dark purple?"

Cherry let her fingers graze over her frozen lips; Johnny's eyes focused on her movement, mesmerized by her small frame. When the women detected his staring she blushed, brining a crimson texture onto her frozen white cheeks. Looking down at his feet Johnny chuckled in embarrassment when he knew he'd been caught.

"Anyways…" He bit his lip, looking directly into Cherry's ginger eyes. "We have to go talk to the press. That's what Sue and Reed wanted me to tell you. I already decided your super hero name. Ice Princess. It's genius!"

Pulling at her wrist, Cherry shuddered at his touch. It was hot, but amazing. If a single stroke of his hand on her could make her feel that way she didn't want to know what anything else could make her do. Both, fire and ice, arrived to the teammates; Sue, Reed, and Ben. They were standing in a huddle, whispering wildly.

Johnny stuck his head between Ben and Reed's, a evil grin on his features, "Who are we gossiping about today guys? Must be me."

The boulder rolled his brown eyes and gently shoved him back, "Shut up Tinkerbell."

"We are trying to find a subtle way to bring Cherry into this mess without drawing too much attention on her. The press is going to say a lot and we honestly don't know what to tell them," explained Susan with a sigh as she glanced over at the press and paparazzi who were held back by the police.

"I'll handle this!" Notified Johnny with a smirk. Pressing his hand on Cherry's spine he pushed the two of them towards flashing lights, large cameras, and shouting reporters. Bringing a hand up to cover her eyes, Cherry groaned inwardly _just great. _She could hear Reed and Sue protesting Johnny; they were ignored.

A few men and women were screaming Johnny's name and many were barking questions at the couple some pleasant and others… very vulgar. The other three Fantastic members were on their tail, shouting Johnny's name in frustration. He always reacted to the press in an un-orderly fashion.

"What happened? Who's the babe? Are The Human Torch and the mysterious Ice Woman seeing each other? How did she get her powers?"

Woozily, Cherry gaped at her head is a throbbing pain pounded against her eardrums as the people shouted simultaneously. Susan had her hand on Cherry's shoulder in a comforting manner, while Johnny's hand was still on the bottom of her back; it was the only thing holding her back from punching the reporter who had a microphone up her nose.

"Calm down everyone! One question at a time," chuckled Johnny, holding up a hand to relax the ecstatic crowd of yellow journalists. "This here-" he motioned to Cherry with his free hand, "- is Cherry."

"The girl who was hit by lightening the other day?" A smart reporter yelled.

Holding up his hand once more, Johnny shouted, "The other day she was in fact hit by lightening."

"Which we believe has contributed to her receiving powers similar to ours," Reed stepped in with a broad voice. More questions shot at the Fantastic Four, but one stood out that made all the others question themselves.

"Is this the start of the Fantastic Five?"

Dropping the coat to the floor with an exasperated groan, Cherry stared at her nude body in the mirror. The color of her skin was a deathly pale white and it scared her somewhat it was as if she were frozen alive. There were a few small beauty marks that layered her white skin, they stood out with their deep mahogany color; she grew bored and she counted up to forty of them before quitting.

With a twirl she scanned her figure, it hadn't changed since she left Johnny five years ago; she was still pleasantly plump. Average; Johnny did not date average girls anymore; models, superstars, nurses, and maybe a girl in the military. A typical photographer? Probably not. _Why do I care anyways? _She thought in frustration. However, she knew she still loved him and that was why she cared.

The only aspect of her appearance that Cherry found attractive was her face and long wavy locks. She had a round tiny head, thin pink lips, and auburn tinted eyes. What she found interesting, and most others, was also the single beauty mark placed underneath her left eye; it was comparable to Marilyn Monroe's signature mark, but in a different position. She bit her lip whilst twirling a strand of hair.

"I am so bland."

Rolling her deep eyes she turned to her closet. Searching through its contents she pulled out a baggy shirt and gray plaid pajama pants, which had once belonged to Johnny. Dressing herself accordingly Cherry proclaimed herself hungry and decided it was best to fill her empty stomach. Opening her bedroom door she was surprised to see Johnny who was standing hand outstretched ready to knock on her door.

"John?" She loosely opened the door wider in confusion. "I thought you were going out tonight?"

His lips were parted distantly as if here were stopping himself from saying something he really wanted, "Actually I wanted to know if you were willing to watch a movie with me. Sue and Reed are going out on 'business' and Ben and Alicia are going to a bar… again."

A wide smile grew on Cherry's delighted lips, "You mean you actually want to spend time with me, alone?"

"If you don't mind that is," Johnny returned the bright smile, remembering watching movies with her when they lived together. "I want to watch a movie. I have the urge. You can pick it, you were always good at picking out the right movies."

"Don't speak in past tense Johnny. I'm still good at choosing the right movies for the right moments."

The two shared a laugh before entering the kitchen together, due to the fact that Cherry was still hungry. Settling on beef flavored Ramen Noodles, Johnny and Cherry laughed and joked together for the first time in five years. There was still an awkward tension between the duo; old memories of Cherry made Johnny want to grab out and touch her but he knew he shouldn't.

A bewildered Susan entered the kitchen just as Cherry splashed Johnny with boiling water, not that it affected him any. Her younger brother snorted and grabbed both their Ramen cups to start heading into the living room, Cherry turned around and smiled at Susan who creased her eyebrows in bafflement at Johnny and Cherry getting along.

"What are you two doing?" She questioned cautiously, hoping she would not break their current bliss.

Johnny blushed at his sister, and Sue noticed – Johnny's blushing was uncommon, "Cherry and I were going to watch a movie."

"Well, Reed and I are leaving now," clued-up Susan with a sinister smirk; she would tease the both of them later. "Have fun." With her last comment she spun around and exited the Baxter Building with Reed hastily. Now that the two were entirely alone they sat on the cream colored couch; with an obnoxious amount of space distancing them. They were both thinking the same exact sentence 'oh fuck'.

Bashfully, Johnny hunched over and twirled his fork in the noodles idly. When he had asked Cherry to join him he did not take into mind what the consequences were going to be. Every second he spent with her his heart raced, his breathing heightened, and he felt a need to burst into flames. Tilting his head to the side a bit he analyzed Cherry flipping through the channels on the television.

The woman smirked as she crossed an older movie, "Remember this one?"

Chocking on the Ramen that was stuffed in his mouth, he spit it out and chuckled at the movie playing. It was 'Dracula,' the silent film. _How ironic?_ Johnny grabbled over the memory of Cherry and him watching the movie; a blush rose to his cheeks once more.

"First times are always the best," smirked the pale beauty. "Of course, you've had so many women you most likely don't remember it."

"Oh please," it stung to hear the words coming from her mouth, it was like a slap in the face – without the slap and going straight to the pain. Their first time together was the most amazing sensation he had ever experienced during any form of sexual intercourse; that was saying something for Johnny.

Cherry shrugged and was about to change the channel when Johnny's hot hand grabbed the remote out of hers, "Leave it."

"We never did watch the movie, did we?"

"The first two minutes," Johnny muttered with a faint redden. Both stared at the screen absentmindedly for a few minutes, silent. Casually Johnny leaned his elbow on the right arm of the couch and rested his head against his knuckles. "You know… I'm not much of a movie person."

"Then why are we watching this," the brunette shook her wavy hair, laughing at the comment. The Torch grinned at her warmly.

"I…" he bit the inside of his cheek not really sure what to say. "I just want to be around you."

Breathing out steadily she dared herself to question him, "Do you still love me? I mean… after all this time."

Johnny opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Inelegantly he sealed his lips with a foreign expression on his tanned face. His hazel eyes danced, watching Cherry fully waiting for her to speak.

"Would it be wrong for me to say," Cherry cast her eyes over Johnny. "That I still love you."

"Would it be wrong for me to say," shuddered Johnny, repeating Cherry's sentence soulfully. "That I want to hold your hand."

She slid her right hand over Johnny's left, interlocking their fingers tightly. A fog, like the one they created previously when the couple flew, sparked out due to the differences from ice and fire. Sparks flew imaginably around the two as they smiled at each other, not speaking, taking in their unspoken need for each other.

"Whoa… I forgot about this…"

"What?" Cherry asked, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion at Johnny's unfinished sentence.

Nervously, Johnny half-smiled, "I forgot what it feels like to love you."

A high-pitched laugh erupted from the blonde women's throat as her husband tickled her adoringly. They were locked in the contents of the golden-framed elevator, acting as if they were in high school again. Sue pushed Reed, who kissed her temple in amusement. Grabbing onto his shirt she pulled him closer and softly brought her lips against his.

"No more tickling!" Sue giggled as she moved away from him. Reed laughed as Sue panted trying to regain her breathing.

Shortly the elevator chimed, informing the pair they arrived at their stop. Dread gradually leaked up Susan's spine at the quiet house; she was not sure exactly what leaving Cherry and Johnny unaccompanied would bring the Fantastic Four. The last time, Susan had heard enough of their fight to know they had not been on the best terms. Nevertheless, Johnny did offer to let Susan and Reed go out; she had also seen Cherry and Johnny playing goofily in the kitchen earlier, that must have meant they were getting along.

"Reed, it is too quiet."

The thin man mentally rolled his eyes; Sue could be extremely over dramatic when she wanted to be. Taking hold of her hand he led her into the kitchen to search for either one of the two, but it was an empty. They checked Reed's lab, no one. Finally, they entered the living room; Reed grinned whilst Susan silently squealed in her husband's ear.

On the crème couch Johnny was hunched in his seat, head leaning against his right arm while Cherry was stretched out on the couch, her head in Johnny's lap and Johnny's hand was entangled in Cherry's resting on her chest. The Torch's free hand was in Cherry's hair tangled as if he had been playing with it.

"Oh my Reed!" Sue cooed in adoration at the sleeping couple. "Do you have a camera?"

Reed chuckled, "Come on Sue. Let's go to bed."

"But I'm not tired," she raised her eyebrows suggestively at Mr. Fantastic; the man who could extend any part of his anatomy. "We could always…"

"Can you take it to the bedroom please?"

Susan and Reed jumped in fright at the sound of Johnny's disgusted voice. One blue eye of his was popped open and he was glaring at the two with it. The flexible man held onto his wife and pulled her out of the living room and into their dormitories very quickly.

The Human Torch was exhausted and uncomfortable. Falling asleep sitting up on a couch was the worst way to go to bed. Glancing down his blue eyes softened at the sight of a slumbering Cherry. He ran a scorching hand through her tresses, idolizing her features silently. Slipping his hands beneath her head he scooted out from underneath her. Then he slid his hands under her frame and lifted her bridal style. Cherry was never a heavy sleeper, so she woke a bit mystified at the shakily walking Johnny.

"Where are we going?" she grumbled –she was never a morning person- as she buried her head in his chest. A smile grew on Johnny's tired face as he stared down at the girl _She's so small…_ he kissed her forehead adoringly.

"To bed," answered Johnny. Cherry positioned her head so she could watch him oddly. "What?"

"Can you sleep in my room tonight?"

"Cherry I'm not sure that's a good idea." Actually Johnny thought it was the greatest suggestion in the entire world at the moment, but he was not sure what to make of them. Were they going to get back together? Was she going to leave him again? What were her intensions? Did he want her back? All these questions swarmed through his head, all answered; excluding one questions. Did he want her back? Yes, he did and he knew that. "We should talk in the morning."

Nuzzling her head against she sleepily whined, "We can talk about it now. Sleep. In. My. Room."

"Fine," Johnny huffed at the twenty-five year old. He had almost completely forgotten how demanding Cherry was. "I'll sleep in your God forsaken room."

"Don't use the Lord's name in vain…"

A grin grew across his thin pink lips, _that's my Cherry._

There was a bolting giggle from the living room, which belonged to Cherry Love Crush. She was sitting Indian style in front of the television watching early morning cartoons on Nickelodeon. Strawberry Crush bottle cans, potato chip bags, and a half eaten bologna sandwich was layered across the floor surrounding her due to the woman's laziness to get up and throw her mess in the garbage.

Curiously Johnny Storm entered the room and laughed in amusement at the sight of the brunette's auburn eyes glued to the television screen. Smiling, he leaned against the wall and watched her for a few moments. When he had woken in the morning to find himself in her bed without him he had thought she was angry with him, but he realized Cherry had decided to be a couch potato and did not want to disturb his peaceful slumber.

_Does she always think of me_ he wondered as he looked back on all the things Cherry had done for him. Most of all the stuff ended up backfiring against her because it made Johnny angry, but she did it out of selflessness. _It is amazing to see that someone can want to give me everything._

"Are you watching Spongebob Squarepants?" Chuckled Johnny as he recognized Squidward Tentacles depressed monotone voice. The women sat still, eyes never removing themselves away from the television. Johnny rolled his blue bulbs and continued on into the room. Stopping shortly behind Cherry he glanced at the television momentarily to see Spongebob, Patrick, and Squidward trying to catch Jelly Fish. "Isn't this a bit immature for you?"

Taking a sip of the strawberry flavored drink, she shot back shortly, "Isn't womanizing a bit immature? Especially for a twenty-six year old."

"Touché."

Sliding down to the floor beside Cherry, Johnny picked up her half eaten sandwich and took a large bite out of it. He figured she would complain however the ice woman started blankly at the television. Immediately Johnny understood Cherry was not in a good mood, hopefully it was not because of him.

"Feeling alright?" he carefully quizzed with a frown upon his model-like face. The Torch watched as she held the remote in her hand and flipped the channel to the news. There they were, the Fantastic Four –and Cherry. Rumors of Cherry and Johnny broke out instantaneously and somehow the reporters had gotten their stingy fingers on old pictures of the two.

"You missed the pictures of you posing in your underwear, by the way," Cherry grumbled in annoyance as a picture of Cherry and Johnny kissing tightly on a park bench. "How the hell do they get this?"

Johnny stared closer at the picture, "Didn't you take that photo for a project senior year? I remember because we took about twenty different angels for the same picture."

"I remember," she smiled distantly as the picture faded into one of Johnny and Cherry that was in their senior yearbook. "The tripod kept falling."

Rolling his blue eyes, Johnny grasped the controller switching the channel back to Sponge Squarepants. In unison the two laughed obnoxiously as Squidward was stung by the Queen Jelly Fish. Alarmed, Susan Storm galloped into the room in wonderment at the rambunctious snorting that was coming from the room. Upon her entrance she beamed as she stared at her brother, who pushed Cherry away jokingly.

"Hey you two," Susan's soft voice greeted as her shallow footsteps crossed the room. She stepped next to Johnny and shook her head at the two adults; both smiling somewhat embarrassedly up at her. "What are you guys up to today?"

Cherry turned to Johnny and bit her lip as smiled at him, "Watching Spongebob."

"Sounds like fun," the blonde chuckled as she watched her brother attempt at ignoring her presence by staring ideally at the television. Susan was giving him a knowing grin, but decided against pushing him when Cherry was in the room. He tended to blow up like a balloon anytime she tried to pry into his personal life.


End file.
